The war has truncated children’s education. The protracted conflict has resulted in the partial or complete destruction of more than 5,000 schools, according to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

With nearly six million Syrians displaced internally and five million more who have fled the country as refugees, lack of access to education has become a major issue. In the neighboring countries that host a majority of the Syrian refugees, at least 536,000 school-age children are not receiving an education, according to a recent Human Rights Watch report.

A week before the Douma schools reopened, Asma al-Assad, the wife of President Assad, visited a newly opened school in the government-held area of Tartus, according to reports from Syrian state-run news outlet SANA.

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Mrs. Assad is seen in the photos hugging children in brightly painted, pristine classrooms, a stark departure from the scenes in Douma.